One shot, five stabbed in fight involving 100 people at Gaithersburg bar

Police ask witnesses to incident to come forward

Montgomery County Police are hopeful witnesses will step forward to help identify those involved in a fight at a Gaithersburg restaurant early Sunday.

One man was shot, five young adult men were stabbed, one woman received a laceration, and one man was punched with a blunt object during a fight that erupted between nearly 100 people outside a Rapper Karaoke Night at New Red Rock Café, police said.

The man who was shot and the men who were stabbed were taken to the hospital, all with non-life-threatening injuries, while the woman who was injured drove herself to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said Montgomery County police spokeswoman Lucille Baur.

So far, none of the people who were injured have been cooperative with police in identifying those responsible for the fight, Baur added.

“We are hoping to be able to have an opportunity to speak more with the shooting victim and to just try to make a determination if any of our victims, now that time has passed since the initial trauma, if they have any information,” Baur said Monday. “... This isn’t going to be easy; this isn’t going to be quick, so we’re just working very carefully.”

At least one man who was present when the fight started, café owner Gurcharan Singh, has spoken to police about what happened, but in the confusion of the fight the details remain sketchy.

“It happened at about 1:34 [when] there were two ladies in the restaurant fighting,” Singh said. “And in about 45 seconds I turned on the lights and told everybody ‘You have to go; go outside, please’ and then everybody was outside in the parking lot. I didn’t see anything after that until I noticed a lot of police cars and flashing lights in the parking lot.”

While Singh was pleased with his business before Sunday, all future concerts and music venues were canceled by Monday morning and the café will remain closed for two weeks, Singh said. After two weeks, Singh said he plans to reopen the space as an Indian restaurant.

Both Gaithersburg and Montgomery County police responded to the restaurant, 385 Muddy Branch Road, Baur said.

The fight started between female patrons inside the restaurant; several men quickly joined in and the fight escalated and moved into the parking lot, Baur said. Police established a perimeter and broke up the fight, she added.

“There was a significant amount of drinking that occurred and it erupted into violence,” Baur said. “Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but it is still a very active investigation.”

The restaurant is open until 2 a.m. Saturdays. It had highly advertised the Rapper Karaoke Night, and attracted people from outside of Montgomery County, such as Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C., Baur said.

Police currently have no one in custody and would like anyone who witnessed the fight to call the 5th/6th district station at 240-773-6237. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 866-411-TIPS. Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of as much as $1,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest and/or indictment for this crime. Anonymous tips also can be provided by typing “MCPD” plus the tip on a cell phone or PDA and texting it to 274637 (CRIMES).